WO2001042016A1

WO2001042016A1 - Ink-jet printer

Info

Publication number: WO2001042016A1
Application number: PCT/JP1999/006822
Authority: WO
Inventors: Yukio Morikawa; Jun Moroo
Original assignee: Fujitsu Limited
Priority date: 1999-12-06
Filing date: 1999-12-06
Publication date: 2001-06-14
Also published as: US20020191045A1; US6595614B2; JP4345046B2

Abstract

An ink-jet printer for printing an image of high quality even in a printing mode where major line feed and minor line feed are combined, comprising a head which has B ink-jet nozzles (B is an integer) for jetting the same ink arranged in the vertical scanning direction at substantially regular intervals and is movable in the horizontal scanning direction perpendicular to the vertical scanning direction, and a vertical scanning mechanism for moving a recording medium in the vertical scanning direction relatively to the ink head, wherein the nozzle intervals are A times the dot pitch (d) (A is an integer), the printing is performed by repeating a step which includes one print scanning (horizontal scanning) in the horizontal scanning direction, a minor line feed printing and a major line feed for moving the recording medium by a distance (B A-(A n+1)(C A-1)) d, the minor line feed printing is repeating a sub-step (C A-1) times (C is an integer), and the sub-step comprises a minor line feed for moving the recording medium in the vertical scanning direction relatively to the ink head by a distance ((A n+1) d) which is the sum of n times (n is an integer) the nozzle interval and one dot pitch, and one print scanning in the horizontal scanning direction.

Description

Description Inkjet printer Technical field

The present invention relates to an ink jet printer, and more particularly to a head having a plurality of ink jet nozzles (hereinafter, simply referred to as “nozzles”) arranged at substantially equal intervals in a sub-scanning direction. The present invention relates to an ink jet printer that performs small line breaks and large line breaks. Background art

The ink jet printer ejects minute ink droplets from a nozzle and attaches them to a medium such as paper, and forms an image with a dot of the attached ink droplets. In the case of a monochrome printer, the ink used is one color, but in the case of a color printer, four types of ink that jet four or more colors such as cyan, magenta, yellow and black are used. The above nozzles are used.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an ink jet printer. The feed roller 11 rotates in response to the start of printing, and the medium (sheet paper) stored in the paper cassette 10 is fed along the guide 12. The fed sheet is passed under the roller 13 and fed under the head 20, and is further sandwiched between the paper feed rollers 14 and 15. By rotating the paper feed rollers 14 and 15, a desired amount of sheet paper can be transported. The head 20 is provided with a nozzle 21. By driving an actuator (not shown), ink is ejected from the nozzle 21. Head 20 can be moved in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface movement direction along guide 22. The moving direction is generally called the main scanning direction, and the direction perpendicular thereto, that is, the moving direction of the sheet paper is generally called the sub-scanning direction. By jetting ink at the dot position to be printed during one main scan, a dot for one line corresponding to one nozzle can be printed. After printing by one main scan, the sheet of paper is fed for one line, the dot for one line is printed again, and the dot for the next line is printed. You. By repeating the above operation, printing is performed on the entire sheet. The printed sheet is discharged to tray 16. The portion indicated by reference numeral 3 is a member for preventing the tip of the nozzle 21 from being dried and clogged, and covers the tip of the nozzle 21 when not printing.

If a single nozzle prints one line of dots during one main scan, printing on one sheet of paper is very difficult. It needs to be performed many times, which causes a problem that the printing time is long, that is, a problem that the printing speed is slow. In view of this, printing speed is improved by arranging a plurality of nozzles in the sub-scanning direction and simultaneously printing a plurality of dot rows in one main scan. ing.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of an arrangement of nozzles in a head of a color ink jet printer. (1) in Fig. 2 shows an example in which the nozzles of each color are arranged in a single row in the sub-scanning direction. The head for black ink 31K and the head for cyan ink 31C. The ink head 31M and the yellow ink head 31 1 are displaced in the main scanning direction. In each head, a plurality (m) of nozzles 32-1 to 32-m are arranged at intervals of an integral multiple of the dot pitch. To eject ink of each color on the same dot, ink is ejected from the head for each color with a shift in the main scanning direction and a time difference determined by the main scanning speed. Each nozzle must be provided with a mechanism for injecting ink, such as a piezo element, which requires a certain amount of space. Therefore, the nozzles cannot be arranged adjacent to each other in correspondence with the dots, and the nozzles are arranged at predetermined intervals in the sub-scanning direction. The printing operation when the nozzles are arranged in this manner will be described later.

(2) in FIG. 2 shows an arrangement in which a plurality of nozzle arrays arranged at predetermined intervals in the sub-scanning direction are arranged so that the arrangement interval of the nozzles in the sub-scanning direction is substantially reduced. Similar to (1) in Fig. 2, four color heads of black, cyan, magenta and yellow are provided, and each head has two rows of nozzles 3 4 — 1 and 3 4 — 2 are provided. The two nozzle rows are arranged at a nozzle interval of 1 Z 2 in the sub-scanning direction, and when viewed from the main scanning direction, the two nozzle rows are arranged at equal intervals in the sub-scanning direction. I have. This interval is 1/2 of the nozzle interval of one nozzle row, and this substantial interval is hereinafter referred to as an array interval in the sub-scanning direction. To eject ink to the same dot row, ink is ejected from nozzles in each row with a shift in the main scanning direction and a time difference determined by the main scanning speed. As a result, the same printing can be performed as when the nozzles are arranged at a pitch of 1/2 of the nozzle interval of each row. By increasing the number of nozzle rows, the actual arrangement interval can be narrowed accordingly.For example, if six nozzle rows arranged at a 6-dot pitch are provided, one Adjacent dots can be printed simultaneously in main scanning. However, it is difficult to arrange such nozzles densely in the sub-scanning direction because of the size of the head and the cost. The present invention is directed to a head in which the nozzles are arranged at intervals of one or more dots in the sub-scanning direction. Although the head of the color 'ink jet' printer is shown in FIG. 2, the present invention is not limited to the mono ink jet printer and the color ink jet printer.ある Applicable to both printers. In order to simplify the explanation below, An ink jet printer will be described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this.

Fig. 3 shows a head with m nozzles 36-1 to 36-m arranged at a predetermined interval (four dot pitch) in the sub-scanning direction. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a relative movement between a head and a print medium (paper). Here, the explanation is based on the assumption that a strip-shaped vertical line is printed. The head performs main scanning at the position indicated by 35a, and prints m rows of dots with m nozzles. As a result, m horizontal lines of one dot width with a 4-dot pitch are printed, and three dots of space exist between the horizontal lines. Next, the head moves relative to the medium in the sub-scanning direction, and moves to the position indicated by 35b. This movement is called a small line break. The main scanning is performed at that position, and the m-dot line is printed. The m-dot row printed at this time is adjacent to the lower side of the m-dot row that was printed earlier, and is m horizontal lines with a width of 2 dots. At this time, there are two dots of space between the horizontal lines. In addition, the main scan is performed with a small line feed at the position indicated by the heading 35, and the m-dot line is printed. This results in m horizontal lines with a width of 3 dots, with a space of 1 dot between the horizontal lines. Further, the main scanning is performed with a small line feed at the position indicated by 35d in the head, and the m-dot line is printed. As a result, a rectangle having a width of 4 X m dots is printed in the sub scanning direction. Next, the head moves to the position indicated by 35 e. This is called a large line break. The movement amount of this large line feed is (4 X m-3) times the dot pitch. Thereafter, by repeating the same operation as described above, printing over the entire surface of the medium can be performed.

As shown in Figure 3, when the above printing operation is performed, the first four dots are the ink jetted from the first nozzle, and the second four dots are the second nozzle. Printed with ink jetted from The last four dot rows of the 4 xm dot row are printed with the ink fired from the mth nozzle, and so on for every 4 Xm dot row.

The nozzle is a fine hole, and multiple nozzles are formed at the same time by press working. Press molds are made precisely and are created by precision press working, but not all nozzles can be created at the same time. Is inevitable. The deviation of the nozzle position is the deviation of the ink adhesion position on the medium. The deviation of the flying angle of the ink causes the displacement of the adhesion position by an amount obtained by multiplying the distance from the tip of the nozzle to the medium by the angular deviation. Therefore, the sum of the displacements of the attachment positions due to these two factors is the actual displacement, and in fact, the displacement of the attachment positions due to the displacement of the flight angle is large.

Fig. 4 shows the position of the three nozzles 37-1 to 37-3 applied to the medium where the ejected ink is applied, as shown in the figure, 38-1 to 38-3 It shows the case where it is shifted. Here, the flight angle is shown to be shifted only in the sub-scanning direction, but it is actually shifted in all directions. Assume that the ink jetted from nozzles 3 7 — 1 and 3 7 — 3 shifts upward, and the ink jetted from nozzle 37-2 shifts downward. When such a head is used and four dots are printed with the same nozzle as shown in Fig. 3, the four dots are shifted by the same amount in the same direction. Ink is added between the 4-dot line printed with the ink from 3 7 — 1 and the 4-dot line printed with the nozzle 3 7 — 2 A white line (when the medium is white) that does not wear occurs, and a four-dot line printed with an ink from nozzles 3 7 — 2 and a nozzle with a nozzle 3 7 — 3 Between the four dot rows to be printed, the two dot rows overlap, creating a dark horizontal line. In this way, the light and shaded horizontal lines at 4-dot row pitch Will happen. If the flight angle is shifted in the main scanning direction,

The vertical line has a four-dot pitch.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a method of creating an ink injection nozzle. As shown in (1) and (2) in FIG. 5, the nozzle is formed by pressing a thin nozzle plate 41 with a mold 42 in which a plurality of pins having a hole shape of the nozzle are arranged at predetermined intervals. It is formed by doing. Since it is difficult to make a mold having a large number of pins at the same interval as the actual nozzle pitch (nozzle pitch), for example, at the interval 2 d twice the actual nozzle pitch d, the number of nozzles (m ) To form a mold with half the number of pins (mZ 2). By pressing with such a mold, two mZ nozzle holes are formed at an interval of 2 d as shown in (3) of FIG. Next, as shown in FIG. 5 (4), the relative position between the mold and the nozzle plate 41 is shifted by the nozzle pitch d, and pressing is performed as shown in FIG. 5 (5). As a result, as shown in (6) of FIG. 5, m nozzles arranged at the interval d are formed. If the distance between the pins is 3d or more, the number of pins is further reduced, and the number of presses is increased, the mold manufacturing becomes easier.

In addition to the creation method shown in Fig. 5, a creation method shown in Fig. 6 can be considered. As shown in (1) and (2) in FIG. 6, for example, a mold in which m / 2 pins are arranged at an interval d is made, and the nozzle plate 41 is pressed, so that m / Two nozzle holes are formed. Next, as shown in (4) of FIG. 6, the relative position between the mold and the nozzle plate 41 is shifted by dXm / 2, and pressed as shown in (5) of FIG. As a result, m nozzles arranged at an interval d are formed as shown in (6) of FIG. However, in this method, forces are applied to the upper half and the lower half, respectively, during the two press workings, so that the nozzle plate 41 becomes the nozzle plate 4 as shown in (7) and (9) of FIG. Distortion may occur at the center of 1. Also, there is a problem that it is difficult to make pins at narrow intervals, 1

The nozzle hole of the nozzle plate is generally formed by the method described with reference to FIG. 5. As described above, when the nozzle plate is pressed with a pin to form the nozzle hole, for example, when the direction of the pin is If it deviates from vertical, the direction of the hole will deviate and the flight angle will deviate. When a nozzle hole is formed by the method described with reference to Fig. 5, two adjacent nozzles are formed by pressing with the same pin, so that the flight angles are almost the same. Therefore, the light and shade horizontal lines generated by the deviation of the flight angle of each nozzle described in Fig. 4 are generated at twice the 8-dot pitch and become more conspicuous. If the distance between the pins is more than three times, the light and shaded horizontal lines will occur at more than three times the dot pitch, and will be even more noticeable. Also, in the case where the flying angle is shifted in the main scanning direction and the vertical line has jitter, the interval between the jitters becomes longer and thus becomes more conspicuous.

As described above, when printing is performed by using a head in which a plurality of nozzles are arranged and repeating small and large line breaks as described in Fig. 3, due to the deviation of the flight angle of the nozzles There is a problem that horizontal shading and vertical line bleeding occur, degrading image quality. In order to solve such a problem, US Pat. No. 4,198,642 discloses a technique called “interlace method”. In addition, JP-A-11-28827, JP-A-11-34398, JP-A-9-1509 and JP-A-9-71009 have improved the "interlace system". Disclosing technology

The `` interlace method '' is an integer in which N and k are in a coarse relationship with each other when printing is performed using a head in which N nozzles are arranged at intervals of k times the dot pitch. In this method, a predetermined amount of line feed is performed each time one main scan is completed, so that the entire surface can be printed with the same line feed amount. However, in order to print using this interlaced method, the head is generally used. It is necessary to limit the number of driving nozzles without using all the nozzles arranged in the same way, or to make the driving rate of the nozzles different for each nozzle. In an ink jet printer, the state of the nozzle changes due to the difference in the driving rate of the nozzle for each nozzle, and the ink viscosity changes due to the ink coming into contact with the outside air at the nozzle. Fluctuations and variations in the driving capability due to the close nozzle driving rate, etc., and the dispersion of the flying characteristics of the ink between the nozzles increases, and the print is substantially limited due to the limitation of the number of driving nozzles. The problem of slowing down occurs.

For this reason, in order to print all the nozzles mounted on the head of the ink jet at the same drive rate, an interface that can print with a fixed line feed amount as described above is required. The race system cannot be used, and it is necessary to print by performing relative movement that combines small and large line breaks. However, in the method that combines the small line feed and the large line feed, as described above, the image quality is degraded due to the difference in the flight angle between the nozzles. Disclosure of the invention

An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to realize an ink jet printer capable of obtaining high image quality even when printing is performed by a method in which a small line feed and a large line feed are combined.

In order to achieve the above object, the ink jet printer of the present invention sets the amount of small line feed to an amount obtained by adding one dot pitch to an integral multiple of the nozzle arrangement interval, and uses nozzles having different flight angles. By printing adjacent dot rows, light and dark horizontal lines and vertical lines are generated at a fine pitch to make them inconspicuous.

In other words, the ink jet printer according to the present invention has B (B is an integer) ink jet nozzles that jet the same ink at substantially constant nozzle intervals in the sub-scanning direction. Main scanning method that is arranged and is perpendicular to the sub scanning direction An ink jet printer having a head that can move in the horizontal direction and a sub-scanning mechanism that moves the recording medium relative to the ink head in the sub-scanning direction. The interval is A times the dot pitch (d) (where A is an integer). The printing operation consists of one print scan (main scan) in the main scanning direction and n times the nozzle interval. (N is an integer) plus one dot pitch ((AX n + 1) xd) After performing a small line feed that moves the recording medium relative to the ink head in the sub-scanning direction. A small line feed print that repeats the operation of performing one print scan in the scanning direction C x A—one time (C is an integer), and then (BXA— (AX n + 1) (C x A-1)) It is an operation that repeats a large line feed that performs a large line feed of xd.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating the principle of the present invention. As shown in the figure, m nozzles 51-1 to 51-m are arranged at a 4-dot pitch. It is assumed that each nozzle has a different flight angle. First, one print scan (main scan) in the main scan direction is performed at the position of the nozzle 511 to 511 m on the left side. At this time, the dot row at the leading end of the image is set to the position printed by the nozzles 51 to 14. Next, after a small line feed at a 5-dot pitch, one print scan is performed. The positions of the nozzles 5 1 — 1 to 51 — m at this time are shown in the second position from the left. This set of small line feed and one print scan is repeated three times. As a result, the row of the four dots 5 5 — 4 to 5 5 — 1 on the right is printed by the pair of nozzles 5 1 — 4 to 5 1 — 1 indicated by reference number 52, and similarly, the reference number The set of nozzles indicated by 5 3 prints the four right-hand dots 56 1 m to 56 — m— 3. In this way, each set of four adjacent dot rows is printed by a different nozzle, so even if there is a difference in the flight angle of the ink from the nozzle, one dot row is set. It becomes inconspicuous because a shift occurs every time. A set of small line feeds and one print scan Repeating small line feeds three times, dot lines up to 511-500, etc., 56-m-3 are printed densely. In the nozzle set indicated by reference numeral 54, the dot rows corresponding to the three nozzles on the left side are the dot rows 57 — m, 57 — m—1, and 57 — m—2. The power printed by the action, 5 7 — 1 is blank. Greatly break nozzle 5 1 — 1 to print this blank dot line. Therefore, the amount of movement of a large carriage return is (4 X m-5 X 3) dot pitch. Hereinafter, by repeating the same operation, printing is performed over the entire surface, and the above operation is expressed by a generalized expression. For example, if the arrangement pitch of the nozzles is A times the dot pitch d and the number of nozzles is B, the amount of movement of the small line feed is (A + 1) d, and this is performed (A-1) times. The total movement amount due to the small line feed is (A + 1) (A-l) d. In a large line break, the first nozzle should be in the next position after the last nozzle from the first state. In the initial state, the amount of movement for the first nozzle to move to the position next to the last nozzle is B x A xd. As described above, the total movement amount due to a small line feed is (A + 1) (A-1) d, so if this is subtracted from BXA, the movement amount of a large line feed is (BXA-(A + 1) (A-1)) d.

In the example of FIG. 7, since each nozzle has a different flight angle, the small line feed is the amount to move to the position one dot ahead of the next nozzle. When a nozzle is created by the creation method described in Fig. 5, adjacent nozzles have the same flight angle. If n adjacent nozzles have the same flight angle, it is necessary to move to a position one dot ahead of the nth nozzle in a small line feed. Therefore, the movement amount of the small line feed is (AX n + 1) d, and the movement amount of the large line feed is (BXA-(AX n + 1) (A-1)) d. In addition, the line is moved to the position one dot after the nozzle that is an integral multiple of n by a small line feed. It may be moved.

In the above description, each dot row is printed in one print scan (main scan) by one nozzle. Generally, such an operation is called a single-pass recording mode. On the other hand, the operation of printing each dot row by a plurality of main scans by a plurality of nozzles is called a multi-pass recording mode. Note that this is the case of a single color head.In the case of a color printer, printing one dot line for each color in one main scan is called a single pass printing mode. The case where one dot line is printed by multiple main scans is called multi-pass printing mode.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating small and large line breaks when the principle of the present invention is generalized. As shown in the figure, it is assumed that B nozzles are arranged at an A dot pitch, and that n adjacent nozzles have the same flight angle. Further, it is assumed that the multi-pass printing mode prints one dot row by C main scans. The movement amount of the small line feed is (AX n + 1) d, and this is performed (CXA-1) times, so the total movement amount of the small line feed is (A n + 1) X (CXA-1) d . Accordingly, the movement amount of the large line feed is (B X A-(A x n + 1) (C X A-l)) d.

The printer may be one that operates in a single-pass recording mode, one that operates in a multi-pass recording mode, or one that can be arbitrarily selected.

If adjacent nozzles eject ink at the same time, a crosstalk problem will occur. Therefore, in the multi-pass printing mode, it is desirable to control so that adjacent nozzles are not driven simultaneously.

When printing multiple dots continuously in the main scanning direction in the multi-pass printing mode, the dot position to be printed in each of the C times is determined randomly. Is also good. As a result, the noise The effect of variations in the direction of ink jet from the nozzle is less noticeable. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of the ink jet printer.

(1) and (2) of FIG. 2 are diagrams showing an example of the arrangement of a plurality of ink jet nozzles arranged at regular intervals in the sub-scanning direction.

FIG. 3 illustrates the relative movement of the head and the medium in the sub-scanning direction when printing with a head having a plurality of ink jet nozzles as shown in (1) and (2) of FIG. FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the influence of the shift of the ink spot position for each nozzle.

(1) to (6) of FIG. 5 are diagrams for explaining a method of creating a plurality of ink injection nozzles.

(1) to (8) of FIG. 6 are views for explaining another method of creating a plurality of ink jet nozzles.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating the principle of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a more generalized principle of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the nozzle arrangement and the relative movement of the head and the medium in the sub-scanning direction in the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing nozzles for printing each dot when printing a strip-shaped vertical line in the first embodiment.

(1) to (6) of FIG. 11 are diagrams showing the order in which dots are printed when a vertical line is printed in the first embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a view showing the nozzle arrangement and the relative movement of the head and the medium in the sub-scanning direction in the second embodiment of the present invention.

(1) to (6) in FIG. 13 show vertical strips in the second embodiment. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the order in which dots are printed when printing. (1) to (6) of FIG. 14 are diagrams showing the order in which dots are printed when printing a strip-shaped vertical line in the second embodiment. (1) to (3) of FIG. 15 are diagrams showing modified examples of the order in which dots are printed when a strip-shaped vertical line is printed in the second embodiment.

(1) and (2) of FIG. 16 are views showing the nozzle arrangement in the third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing the relative movement between the head and the medium in the sub-scanning direction in the third embodiment.

(1) to (6) in FIG. 18 are diagrams showing the order in which dots are printed when printing a strip-shaped vertical line in the third embodiment. FIGS. 19 (1) to (6) are diagrams showing the order in which dots are printed when a strip-shaped vertical line is printed in the modification of the third embodiment. BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, examples of the present invention will be described. For the sake of simplicity, it is assumed that the ink jet printer in the embodiment is a mono-crop printer. However, the present invention can be applied to a color printer, and each color printer can be used. The operation described below may be performed for each head. The ink jet printer of the embodiment has a cross section as shown in FIG. 1, and the movement of the medium in the sub-scanning direction with respect to the head is different from the conventional example. Therefore, only different portions will be described, and description of other portions will be omitted.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the arrangement of the nozzles in the head of the ink jet printer according to the first embodiment of the present invention and the relative movement of the medium with respect to the head in the sub-scanning direction. As shown, 16 nozzles 6 1 — 1 to 6 1 — 1 6 Strongly arranged in a row at 6-dot pitch intervals. These nozzles are created by the method shown in Fig. 5, and two adjacent nozzles have the same ink flight angle. This printer operates in the single-pass print mode, and prints one dot line in one main scan. Therefore, in the formula for calculating the movement amount of the small and large line feeds, A is 6, B is 16, C is 1, and n is 2. Thus, the amount of movement for small line breaks is (2 X 6 + 1) d, or 13 dot pitch, and the amount of movement for large line breaks is (16 x 6-13 X 5) d, or 31 dot The pitch. In Fig. 9, when printing a vertical line, the printing starts from the position of the nozzle 61-1-11 where the vertical line ends. Reference numeral 62 indicates a portion that does not print in the operation until the first large line feed is performed, and 63 indicates operation until the first large line break is performed. The part printed is the part printed by the operation before the first large line feed and the operation after the first large line break until the second large line break. Show.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing nozzles that print each dot when printing a strip-shaped vertical line in the first embodiment, and FIG. 11 shows the order in which each dot is printed. FIG. As shown in the figure, the adjacent dot rows are printed by nozzles separated by two or more, so the flight angles are always different. Therefore, even if the flight angle of the nozzle is different, the light and dark horizontal lines and vertical lines are generated at a short pitch, and are inconspicuous.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing the arrangement of the nozzles in the head of the ink jet printer according to the second embodiment of the present invention and the relative movement of the medium with respect to the head in the sub-scanning direction. As shown in the figure, 32 nozzles 6 1 — 1 to 6 1 — 3 2 are arranged in a row at 6-dot pitch intervals. These nozzles are created in the manner shown in Figure 5 so that two adjacent nozzles fly the same ink. Has a sho angle. This printer operates in the single-pass printing mode as described in the first embodiment and also in the multi-pass printing mode in which one dot row is printed by two main scans. Here, the multi-pass recording mode will be described. In the above formula for calculating the amount of movement between small and large line breaks, A is 6, B is 32, C is 2, and n is 2. Therefore, the movement of the small line feed is (2 X 6 + 1) d, that is, 13 dot pitch, and the movement of the large line feed is (

3 2 X 6-1 3 X 11 1) d, that is, a 49 dot pitch. FIGS. 13 and 14 show the order in which the dots are printed and the nozzles used to print the dots when printing a strip-shaped vertical line in the second embodiment. It is. As shown, adjacent dot rows are printed by nozzles that are two or more apart. In addition, adjacent dots in one dot row are alternately printed by two nozzles, so that the difference due to the different flying angles of the nozzles becomes even less noticeable.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing the order in which each dot is printed when a strip-shaped vertical line is printed in a modification of the second embodiment. The relative movement of the medium with respect to the head in the sub-scanning direction is the same as in the second embodiment, and the same dot row is printed by the same two nozzles. However, in Figure 15

As shown in (1), for example, the nozzles 6 1-25 and 6 1-26 operate alternately during main scanning to print dots in different columns. Similarly, if adjacent nozzles are not operated at the same time, a 6-dot row is printed in a grid as shown in (2) of Fig. 15. Next, nozzle 6 1 — 13 prints the same dot row as nozzle 6 1 — 25, and nozzle 6 1-14 prints the same dot row as nozzle 6 1 — 26. Print the remaining blank dots at this time. Therefore, adjacent nozzles do not operate at the same time. When the above operation is repeated six times, each dot is shown in the form shown in (3) in Fig. 15 Will be printed. It should be noted that although (2) in FIG. 15 shows only a two-dot sequence, this is repeated thereafter.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing the arrangement of nozzles in the head of the ink jet printer according to the third embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, a first set of 16 pieces 7 1 — 1, 7 1 — 4,..., 7 1 — 4 6 arranged in one row at a 6 dot pitch (6 d), 1 6 sets of 7 7 — 2, 7 1 1 5,…, 7 1 — 4 2nd set of 6 d arranged in a row and 16 nozzles 7 1 — 3, 7 1 — A set of 6, ..., 7 1-4 8 arranged in a row in 6d is provided. The second set is shifted from the first set by a predetermined amount in the main scanning direction and is shifted by 2 d in the sub-scanning direction. Further, the third set is shifted by a predetermined amount in the main scanning direction and 2d in the sub-scanning direction with respect to the second set. By shifting the timing for driving each set during the main scan in accordance with the shift in the main scan direction, as shown in (2) of FIG. 16, 48 nozzles 7 2 — 1 to 7 2 — A print equivalent to a nozzle in which 48 are arranged at 2d intervals can be made. In the head of the third embodiment shown in FIG. 16, six adjacent nozzles, for example, the nozzles 72-1 to 72-6 have the same ink flight angle.

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating the relative movement of the medium in the sub-scanning direction with respect to the head in the multi-pass printing mode of the third embodiment. As shown in the figure, the movement amount of the small line feed is 13d.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing the order in which the dots are printed when printing a strip-shaped vertical line in the multi-pass printing mode of the third embodiment. As shown, the adjacent nozzles are controlled so as not to be driven simultaneously. In the third embodiment, all dots within a predetermined range are printed in six main scans.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing the order in which each dot is printed when a strip-shaped vertical line is printed in a modification of the third embodiment. Multipath In the print mode, the printing is performed by dividing the predetermined range of each dot row in the main scanning direction into c main scans. In this modification, the dot is printed in each of C times. Position is determined randomly. First, the width in the main scanning direction to be printed is divided into a plurality of appropriate ranges. The random number generator

A random number of 1 is generated, and within each range, the dot to be printed in the first main scan is determined with a probability of 1 Z C (here, C = 3). Similarly, the second random number is generated except for the dots printed in the first main scan from the dots in this range, and a probability of 1 / (C-1 1) is generated within that range. The dot to be printed in the second main scan is determined. Hereinafter, the same determination is made so that all the dots within this range are printed in C main scans.

In the modified example of the third embodiment, compared to the ink jet printer of the related art which performs a small line feed and a large line feed, a light and shaded line or a vertical line due to a variation in the ink jetting direction from the nozzle. Storms occur in short periods that are difficult to see and are randomly distributed, making them even less noticeable

Industrial applicability

Advantageous Effects of Invention According to the present invention, in an inkjet printer that performs a small line feed and a large line feed, unevenness in the image due to variations in the flight angle of the nozzle becomes less visible, and the image quality is improved.

Claims

The scope of the claims

1. B (B is an integer) ink ejection nozzles that eject the same ink are arranged at substantially constant nozzle intervals in the sub-scanning direction, and the main scanning is perpendicular to the sub-scanning direction. Head that can be moved in any direction,

An ink jet printer including a sub-scanning mechanism for relatively moving a recording medium in the sub-scanning direction with respect to the ink head, wherein the nozzle interval is a dot pitch (d). A interval (A is an integer)

The printing operation is

One print scan in the main scanning direction;

The recording medium is moved in the sub-scanning direction with respect to the ink head by an amount ((AXn + 1) xd) obtained by adding one dot pitch to n times the nozzle interval (n is an integer). CXA—A small line feed print that repeats the operation of performing one print scan in the main scanning direction once after performing a line feed for relative movement, and CXA—one time (C is an integer).

An ink jet recording apparatus characterized in that the operation repeats a large line feed to perform a large line feed of (B X A— (A X n + 1) (C × A—l)) × d.

2. The ink jet printer according to claim 1, wherein C is 1, and a dot that can be printed by one scan in the main scanning direction is printed by one print scan. Single-pass print mode and a multi-print that prints a dot that can be printed by one scan in the main scanning direction when C is 2 or more, by C print scans An ink jet printer having a path recording mode.

3. An ink jet printer according to claim 1, wherein In the multi-pass printing mode, an ink jet printer controlled so as not to simultaneously drive the adjacent ink jet nozzles.

4. The ink jet printer according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of dots are continuously printed in the main scanning direction in the multi-pass printing mode. The dot position that is printed each time is a randomly determined ink jet printer.

5. The ink jet printer according to claim 1, wherein m consecutive ink jet nozzles have the same ink flight characteristics,

The above n is an integer multiple of the above m.